Saturday, July 22, 2006

THE TT

funnily enough, i found the TT a little anti-climatic, although it really wasn't. the two real sensations were of Floyd leading at the first check. The New King! the 2nd is of Floyd seemingly slowing and Pereiro keeping pace. i though Oh S@#T! This CAN'T happen... and it didn't. by the end, Floyd rode well enough, finishing 3rd behind Honchar and Kloden, and Pereiro slowing to 4th, but riding the absolute TT of his life. fact is, Floyd's dominant ride was over the Joux Plane, and not today.

**notice Sastre moving to 4th with a poor ride. i though Menchov was poor too. Rogers, for that matter, underperformed. Pereiro was the man, in my own opinion. although he shouldn't have been gifted so much time, he rode with more heart throughout the Alps and the final TT than anyone but Floyd.

**top-20 missing a Disco boy except the Old Man. what a terrible Tour, saved only by Popo's stage. a superteam but a distant memory.

**this TT mostly full of specialists, with very few all-rounders here. as previously stated, a Tour of Lieutenants.

**and how 'bout Eki? 40, riding his 15th Tour. a legend. he deserves one other good result before sailing into the sunset. the word is that he was trying to organize a Russian pro team. think he would be an excellent team manager? Hell yes!

**in looking at results, really there were 3 dominant riders- Honchar, Kloden, and Landis, w/ Pereiro stuck in the middle under the spell of the jersey. after that the time gaps are quite substantial.

**i was looking post-facto through the results and noticed that Levi lost 6min again. not as disappointing as George's Tour, but not far off.

**and finally, OLN (Vs. this fall) announced they will produce daily shows for the Tour of California. with Floyd's ability to win that event, and the Tour, it give the TofC real creedence. good for the future of American cycling (i guess).